RHOC and Roll
by Lazu Azuli
Summary: Ruby Corundum is a 17 year old girl with a spirit for adventure, but she doesn't know what lurks in the shadows. After failing to catch a villain once she's accepted to Beacon Academy for training. Here she makes new friends and even more family than she ever knew she could have.


In the city of Vale, all was calm and quiet. But not all was inactive under the clear light of the moon. If you listen carefully, you can hear the buzz of crime in the background. Like a foretaste of dread in the large picture of life. So I must absolutely tell you, dear people of Vale, keep your doors locked and goods hidden in a tight spot. For criminals lurk in the shadows to retrieve them for themselves.

Andrew Scorch put the lock pick into the door's old but yet modern knob. He fumbled the pick, twisting it left and right until he heard the satisfactory click of the door's lock being opened. No alarms had been set off, so that was even better. He entered the room to see nothing but a foldable chair, a lamp, and a decently large safe out in the open for him to take.

He was tempted to go over to the safe and try to crack it, but something was off. Why would all of the valuable goods just be lying out there in the open? This was the most valuable apartment on the block, but it was so basic and empty with no one in sight. The front windows were blacked out, not a good sign at the moment. But before he thought about escaping, the door was slammed shut. He was in a pitch black darkness with no way out of it.

He began to tug at the door, seeing that it was once again properly locked. The lamp switched on and the darkness was no longer so thick. A tall teenage girl that seemed about 19 years old was sitting in the chair with her legs crossed. She wore a calm purple t-shirt with her emblem of a rising sun in the middle of it, which seriously contrasted with her rough crimson jacket. This was obviously showing that she wasn't a person took insults lightly.

Her brown hair drooped down over the back of the chair before she got up. One glance at her face and anyone could tell who she was.

"Ruby Corundum, so we finally meet. I've been trying to get your attention." said Andrew smiling slyly at her.

"What gave me away? The record of turned in criminals, the strength in my eyes?" asked Ruby as she got up from her chair and brushed her hair back.

"More like the fact your face is plastered on every wanted poster from here to Vacuo." he replied trying to keep his cool.

"Yeah, yeah. I wish the police were on my side. I am doing them a favor by handing over every one of the city's worst criminals."

Ruby walked closer to Andrew, her deep golden eyes piercing into his soul. She folded her hands behind her back so he couldn't see the fist that was coming his way.

"Including you," finished Ruby, punching Andrew straight through the door.

Ruby heroically stood in the doorway, her gauntlets more clear in the moonlight. They began to revolve and reload in a series of complex moves. Ruby took a leap at Scorch, missing him by an inch. He jumped onto his feet, pulling out a blade of his own.

"Ugh, just stand still!" yelled Ruby punching the air, sending two blazes of fire directly at Scorch.

"Not in a million years. You've come to the end of your career I believe, courtesy of me!"

Scorch pulled a trigger on the end of the blade, firing bullets through the end. Ruby protected herself from the rain of bullets through a shield of fire. When she looked around, Andrew seemed to have disappeared off of the street. She then spotted him climbing a fire escape onto the roof of a building, punching her left gauntlet right into the ground to make her launch her into the air far enough to reach the edge of the building's roof.

She lifted herself up, Scorch standing directly at the building's edge.

"So persistent aren't you! You just don't know where or when to stop. Allow me to assist you with that."

Scorch then jumped off of the edge of the building. A helicopter flew over the edge of the building, Scorch and a strange female steering the vehicle were seated inside. Scorch then threw a small sack of gunpowder directly at Ruby, hitting it with one of his bullets causing the sack explode in a burst of flames. The explosion clearly should have killed her, but an older woman stood in front of her blocking the attack with her shield.

This caused Scorch to seat himself fully in the vehicle and closed the large clear dome over it.

"We've got a huntress!" said Scorch trading places with the woman.

Ruby stood there in awe as the huntress threw her spear piercing into the side of the ship, returning to her hand in an instant. She through her shield directly at the vehicle making a large dent in the side wing tilting it off balance. The mystery girl appeared a side door began to descend aside. She began to shoot ice cold bullets of her own at the huntress trying to take her out.

When the huntress dived back, Ruby shot two of her large balls of fire directly back at her. It was no use as she nearly overshot. The ship pulled back and flew away into the night. Ruby turned to the huntress and gasped.

"Y-you're a huntress...can I have your autograph!?" squealed Ruby with glee.

Unfortunately for Ruby, she was taken to the Vale police station to be interrogated by the huntress herself, and did not get her autograph.

"Do you know why you're in here?" asked the huntress shooting an angry glare right at Ruby.

"Because I stopped a robbery?"

"No, and you didn't stop the robbery."

"Then is it because I almost stopped a robbery?"

"Still no, you barely did anything but more damage."

"Is it because I stole his wallet?" asked Ruby as she held up Scorch's wallet with driver's license, credit card, and about a thousand dollars that all of which he most likely stole.

"You...how…" stammered the huntress before straightening her glasses again.

"Destroying public property, breaking and entering, even stealing! Why in your right mind did you think is was a good idea?" asked the huntress angrily as she marched back and forth reviewing Ruby's crime report.

"How else was I going to draw the criminal in? They're drawn to thieving. If I didn't have anything valuable they wouldn't be as easy to catch." replied Ruby shrugging.

The huntress sighed in annoyance, clearly fed up with Ruby's shenanigans of the past few hours. Somehow she'd almost managed to get away three times by bribing, tricking, and generally annoying the guards into submission.

"Even though you're rather...reckless, your fighting skills are actually quite astonishing. Where did you go to learn such a skill?"

"I went to the training school in Vacuo. It isn't much, but it's a great place for beginners like me." said Ruby smiling sheepishly.

"If it were up to me, I'd inform the authorities and have you arrested. But… someone would like to see you."

A tall middle-aged man with tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes walked into the room holding a cane and a plate of double chocolate cookies. He placed the plate down and took a seat in front of her.

"Ruby Corundum, a rather odd name for a girl these days." he said curiously.

"Well, I'm not exactly the most normal girl you'd find these days." replied Ruby as she reached for a couple of the cookies on the plate.

"Do you know who I am exactly?" he asked leaning forward slightly.

"You're Professor Ozpin, headmaster at Beacon Academy. I sent an application years ago, but I never got a response."

"Yes, I've kept an eye on it after awhile. I tried to reply to you sooner, but you're a rather hard person to reach."

"Well, it's a rather long story if you ask me. Did you accept it?"

"Depends...would you like to go to Beacon?" asked Professor Ozpin before standing up and straightening his glasses.

"More than anything in the world…" replied Ruby, her eyes sparkling.

"I'll see what I can do." replied Ozpin as he and the huntress left the room.

About a week later, she was accepted in as an official student of Beacon Academy. She boarded the large shuttle from the city of Vale to the outer reaches of the country where Beacon was. It wasn't long for Ruby to spot a familiar face.

"Heeeey! Now what's my little sis doin on a shuttle to the shuttle to the most advanced academy for hunters and huntresses?" asked Ruby's brother Mercury.

For a big brother, Mercury was about equal height to Ruby. He wore a t-shirt like Ruby's except it had a record with a single music note going diagonally down the middle instead of her upward sunrise, a more leathery jacket and scraped up jeans. His belt was thicker to hold his two pistols in place with magnetic locks as well as his baggier pants. Although his eyes were covered with his thick glasses because he's 'too cool to look in the eyes' as he says.

"I just got accepted I guess…" replied Ruby nervously.

"Took them long enough! With your capabilities, you should be taking down the evil forces of the world in no time."

Mercury grinned as he pulled Ruby into a large hug that she desperately didn't want to be a part of.

"Please, I'm trying not to attract too much attention to myself okay? It's bad enough I got accepted two years after my application was sent. People are probably expecting me to be a seventeen year old still. I don't need the teachers to ask about my age. Now, I just want to be unnoticed and get through the next four years on my own."

"C'mon, you may be a bit of an introvert, but you can't keep working on your own forever. This's life and death we're talking about...you need someone other than me to keep your back."

A holographic news program began to play near the shuttle's window.

"As of lately, burglar Andrew Scorch has robbed another local apartment with more witnesses. If anyone has spotted him or knows of his whereabouts, please report to your local police station immediately. In other news, invasion of the White Fang have been spotted once again near the docks of Vale. They were protesting even more violently after the council failed to-"

The news reporter fizzled out for a short second and the huntress that had caught Ruby appeared on the screen.

"Welcome first year students to Beacon Academy. I'm Glynda Goodwitch, co leader of Beacon and instructor for the first year students such as yourselves. You'll be located to the auditorium before heading to the cafetorium for a brief dinner, and finally you'll report to the ballroom where you'll sleep for the night until your dorm rooms are assigned.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the view."

The hologram then dissolved away to reveal the large view of the countryside with Vale vanishing into the distance.

"Wow...seems like home isn't as far away as we thought." said Ruby, peering closer out the window.

Mercury walked over to the window with Ruby and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Beacon is our home now…"

A taller guy in more golden colored clothing started gagging as he passed by on the shuttle looking for the nearest garbage can.

"Guess the view isn't for everybody huh?" laughed Ruby.

"Uh Ruby…you've got some puke on your shoe."

"Eeeew, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!"

When the shuttle boarded at the edge of Beacon Academy, everyone walked out and spread across the entry gates. Except for the one who was about to throw up, he did so in a nearby trash can.

"So, time to get ready for the day. Where's the-"

Mercury was interrupted as Ruby started gawking over the weapons everyone was carrying with them.

"Waaaa! That guy has a collapsible halberd! Look,look! Her shield turns into a sword!"

Mercury pulled her back to the entryway by her jacket before she could start following the person to ask her many more questions that she would most likely find irritating.

"Hey, hey. Don't get so hooked up on everyone else's weapons okay? I mean, what's wrong with yours? Couldn't you swoon over the fact you could punch a tree in half with those." said Mercury gesturing to her gauntlets.

"Well yeah, the Morning Stars are pretty good...but a weapon is an extension of ourselves. Seeing another weapon is like meeting new friends. Except it's a lot easier." sighed Ruby.

"Hey, you need to break out of that shell of yours eventually."

"But who needs friends when I've got an amazing big brother like you?"

"Actually, myfriendsarerightheresoI'vegottagoseeyalaterbye!" said Mercury disappearing into the group of people quicker than Ruby could respond.

"Wait! What'll I do? Where do I go? I didn't listen well enough. I'm bad at thi- oof!"

Ruby bumped into a shorter kid without knowing it and tumbled over in a large pile of luggage, books, and what fell out of the now open suitcases.

"Hey, watch where you're-!" Ruby yelled as she got up quickly, looking as if she were about to punch him before he angrily reacted back.

Strangely enough, he started apologizing before she could take out any more anger.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't exactly looking where I was going. I'm just trying to get away from the...people." he said, grumbling at the word people like it was a replacement for something he'd rather say.

Just as if on cue, a boy only a foot taller than he was was laughing only a few feet away.

"Wow, trying to hide behind the stronger people isn't a very good idea. Unless it's me of course. You don't want to get ripped to shreds, now would we?"

He was much more bulkier and tough looking than the boy Ruby had run into, but seemed even more rotten than what she'd expected from him.

"Typical, you think you're so superior because you're a transfer student from Atlas. Ignore him, he just looks for people to pick on that he thinks can't defend themselves. I'm Harry by the way, Harry Azuli. What's your name?" Harry asked brushing himself off and picking up all of his stuff that was now less scattered.

"Ruby, Ruby Corundum...it's nice to meet you. Oh, do you know where I'm supposed to go? I'm a first year student and there's some sort of meeting for everyone somewhere on campus. You think you could point me in the right direction?"

"It's the auditorium, take a left through that door and keep going straight, you'll be there in no time."

Harry saw the person taunting him marching over, quickly moving over towards the door he mentioned.

"Sorry, I'll catch up with you if I can. I'm sure you can handle him!" he yelled from halfway across the courtyard.

Ruby was about to try and catch up with him, but a hand placed itself on her shoulder making her turn around quickly so she could get a good look at what she was possibly going to hit.

"Hey, hey, relax. I'm not gonna hurt ya."

It was once again, the annoying exchange student from Atlas.

"You probably said the same thing to Harry before you started taunting him and did who knows what on the shuttle ride here."

"Why would I do the same thing to you? You could easily protect yourself. I'm Murphy O. by the way. The O is for Obsidian."

Ruby sighed and started marching off in another direction.

"We're here to protect those who can't protect themselves, not to hurt them even worse."

Ruby shot Murphy a harsh glare before turning around and entering the building. She entered the auditorium and located Mercury as fast as she could.

"Hey little sis, how's the day been going' so far?" asked Mercury smiling while crossing his arms.

"Awful since you ditched me one he courtyard! I ran into this nice kid who was being teased, he may have been a bit of help but then the kid teasing him because he was a big superior exchange student from Atlas came over and started creeping me out."

"Geez, are you serious? I didn't think kids from Atlas could be that mean. He's probably just looking for attention anyway"

At that moment, Murphy pearled over her shoulder and interrupted the conversation entirely.

"Hey, is this guy messing with you wrongly? I can take him out if you want me to." said Murphy smiling evilly.

"Oh my stars, you really were being serious." gawked Mercury staring awkwardly at him.

"Ugh, he's my brother! And you said it yourself, I can easily protect myself." grumbled Ruby as she locked and loaded her gauntlet.

"Woah ho ho, no need to go to the extremes, it seems that you two have just gotten on the wrong foot. This is my sister Ruby, why don't you two try and get to know each other a little more before fighting?"

"Oh yeah, and we can braid each other's hair, paint our nails and talk about who we crush on like you and short, brown, and scraggly over there." sarcastically replied Murphy pointing his thumb at Harry.

Harry looked in their direction confusingly.

"Really? You're serious about that? I thought you had no compassion left."

Before Murphy could angrily explode in the middle of the auditorium, Professor Ozpin stepped up to the microphone on the stage to deliver a speech.

"I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Ozpin then stepped off of the stage so Glynda could step up to the microphone.

"Your dorms won't be assigned until after initiation tomorrow, so you will currently be relocated to the ballroom for a night's rest. Report to the nearest teacher by the entrance for your locker assignment before a brief dinner. Blankets and sleeping bags are offered in the ballroom. You must wake up at six o'clock sharp in the morning to prepare for initiation. You have now been dismissed."

As Glynda left the stage, the masses of first year students began to pour out of the auditorium to catch up with their other friends and head for the nearest teacher they could find. Ruby of course, wasn't the most excited about finding her new locker.

"C'mon Ruby, let's go find a teacher." said Mercury dragging her away before she could sock Murphy square in the forehead.

Later that day in the ballroom, Ruby was laying down in her pajamas while writing in a small notebook. Mercury then crashed down onto a couple of pillows and a blanket nearby.

"Hey sis, whatcha writing?" asked Mercury trying to see what was being written in the little note book.

"It's nothing, just some log I'm keeping I guess. Y'know, so I can look back into a few years later when I graduate and remember."

"Yeah, there's probably more to do than write four pages of your life story though." said Mercury sarcastically before getting hit by a pillow that Ruby angrily chucked at him.

"I-it's not like there's many people I have absolutely no friends."

"What about Harry? There you go, that's plus one friend."

"I'm pretty sure Murphy counts as a negative friend. Back down to zero." sighed Ruby.

"There's no such thing as negative friends. You just made one friend and one enemy."

Mercury got hit by another pillow before sitting upright so it was harder to hit his face. Ruby then looked over at Harry by the edge of a wall reading a book by candle light.

"Hey, there's Harry. He helped me get to the auditorium this morning, but I couldn't really catch up with him."

"Well, why don't you go and say hi?" said Mercury as he grabbed Ruby by the arm and started tugging her in Harry's direction.

Harry looked up from his book seeing Ruby being dragged by what looked like a close relative of hers. He was yelling hello so loud you could almost hear it echo across the room.

"This's my sister Ruby, I believe you two have met. I'm Mercury by the way, her older brother."

"Hey...it's...nice to see you again? How's the...dinner...pillow...thing been..." Ruby mumbled.

Mercury looked strangely back at her wondering exactly what she was doing.

"What're you doing?" whispered Mercury.

"I don't know help me!" loudly whispered back Ruby.

"So, I like your...hair. It goes well with your...pajamas…"

"Uh, thanks." replied Harry back very confused.

"What book are you reading?" asked Ruby curiously.

"Oh, uhm. It's about a boy who lost his family and lives in a train station with all the clocks."

"That sounds pretty cool, I've always read books behind people's backs because I was afraid of being called a nerd. I've always wanted to be like the hero in one of my books."

"Did you ever think that there'd always be a happy ending?"

"Well, not all the time. But I just hope we can all find our happy ending someday."

Murphy then marched angrily over to the group of three.

"Hey, could you keep it down? People are trying to sleep." he angrily whispered.

"NOT YOU AGAIN!" yelled both Murphy and Mercury at the same time.

"Shh, guys keep it down. He's right people are trying to sleep." shushed Ruby trying to calm everyone down.

"Oh, so now you're on my side?" asked Murphy angrily.

Harry then sighed and blew out the candle and slept for the night. The next day, Golden Fox groggily woke up.

"Goooooood Morning, Goldie!" yelled Keyframe over Golden's face.

Golden jumped and rolled off of the bed quickly landing on the floor.

"C'mon, we've got a big day ahead of us! Get dressed as quick as you can."

Golden groaned, got dressed, ate breakfast, and adjusted his scythe in the locker room. All the while Keyframe was babbling surprisingly without taking any large breaths between sentences.

"I've heard rumors about teams, do you think we could get on a team together? I mean, it's probably random or something but maybe we could fix the results so we absolutely are on the same team. Or maybe we could bribe the headmasters, no that'd probably be both illegal and a bad idea. I know! What if we have a secret call or code word for when we're in the forest so we can meet each other directly! Do you know what a turtle sounds like?"

Golden sighed and placed the folded up scythe in the holder of his belt.

"Key, I don't think turtles make a lot of noise." replied Golden.

Key took a few seconds to process this statement.

"Then it's perfect! They'll never suspect what we've got coming."

Golden laughed at Key's enthusiasm, she obviously had too much coffee this morning.

"Oh great! Is it locker 616 or 919? I just had to get the locker that still looks like a number upside down." grumbled Toon as he passed Ruby and Mercury.

"Well at least I'm not the only one having a bad day." sighed Ruby.

"It'll get better after the initiation. I mean, there's still a chance of being assigned on teams." said Mercury, stretching out the word teams to see how much it annoyed Ruby.

"Ugh, at least there's no more small talk for now. I'll just let these bad boys do all of the talking." replied Ruby as she hugged her bright red and purple gauntlets.

"You know, you could try and be on someone else's team…"

"Mercury Radium Corundum, are you implying that you don't want to be on a team with me?" sternly asked Ruby pointing a judging finger at her brother.

"No, no! I'm just saying it's a way to get you to finally have some friends other than me."

"You've been stressing the fact of me and my anti-social abilities lately."

"That's mostly because it won't go through your head that you need to do it eventually. Plus, you've ignored me every time I bring up the subject."

Mercury rolled his eyes as Murphy walked over to the more Rainbow colored girl a few lockers down. Even though she was one of the most strong and powerful student in her class, she was still the shortest of them all.

"Hey, I heard there's been rumors about teams lately. Maybe if you're lucky I could reserve a spot for you. You know, just incase."

Lightning Bliss wasn't the type of person to take teasing lightly. She had already had enough from everyone in Beacon calling her either short or cute, but this was a step over the line. So at that moment, she snapped. She slammed her locker door before taking a deep breath and calmly turning around.

"Well, I'm sure it's much harder than you think to be on a team. It takes both skill, and the ability to get along with your teammates. You know, the fact that people actually need to 'like' being around you."

Lightning Bliss then marched off calmly, turning around to glare at Murphy one more time.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm Bliss. Lightning Bliss."

Murphy was just standing there with his mouth wide open by how he was insulted so badly. He blushed massively trying not to unleash a full out tantrum that would more or less likely make him look even more ridiculous than he was now.

"Let me assist you with walking. It seems like you're not going to be doing it on your own." said Toon grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and dragging him towards the bus to the initiation center at the Emerald forest.

Once they reached the forest after an excruciatingly long busride, they were all told to step onto one of the stone squares in the ground. Professor Ozpin was standing at the edge of the cliff with Glynda in front of all the other first year students.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die. Since destiny has brought all of us together here today, we'll let destiny decide who's partnering with who. And yes, this means the rumors of teams are in fact true.

The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner and most trusted for the remainder of your time here at Beacon. I have hidden a few relics in a small clearing containing an ancient pile of ruins. In the ruins you and your new partner will retrieve a relic and bring it back here. Any questions before we start?" asked Ozpin looking among the row of students, ignoring the fact that Murphy was the only kid holding his hand up.

"Very good, you will be using your own landing strategy to enter the forest. Good luck."

The long line of stone squares began launching one student after another out and into the Emerald Forest below. Everyone in the row before Murphy were all prepared in a stance confusing Murphy even further.

"Uhm, how exactly does this landing strategy work? Are we dropped off into the forest or something?" asked Murphy.

"No, you will be launched." replied Ozpin taking as sip of his large mug of coffee.

"Are we going to be given a parachuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-" screamed Murphy as he was launched twenty feet in the air.

"Are you sure he's ready for this kind of battle? I don't care what his transcripts say, that boy doesn't seem very prepared for this level of combat." said Glynda looking back at Ozpin.

"He'll prove himself in time. It just takes a little more encouragement." replied Ozpin looking down at his scroll surveilling the whole scene.

Meanwhile, a flock of birds peacefully flew over the crisp green trees of the Emerald Forest along a swift breeze. That is, until Ruby crashed right into one.

"No birdy, no!" cried Ruby as she tried to safely remove the bird from her jacket.

Ruby punched at the air, firing shots that slowed down her fall. She then unleashed her lasso from the pocket on top of the gauntlet. She swung across the limbs of trees all while coming closer to the ground. She landed while doing a small somersault back onto her feet.

"Nailed it!" said Ruby fistpumping in the air.

Harry fell at a slower pace by creating small blue glyphs under his feet where he bounded off of in an ongoing run. Golden and KeyFrame were following not too far behind until Golden opened up his dark orange scythe, digging the blade sideways into a tree. He spiraled down the tree until he reached ground level and slowed down to a stop.

The loud bangs and cracks from Mercury's two battle axes firing could be heard from above. He then combined the two axes into a long pole at the end, flying across each and every one of the trees until coming to a stable landing on the ground. Harry followed as he crashed his way through the trees until finally landing unhurt on a thick branch, his staff unravelling into a large bow and arrow. He looked at his surroundings for any nearby target. Seeing Murphy flying through the air while screaming, he then made an advanced shot. The arrow flew all the way to the other side of the forest.

Murphy disappeared into the trees where the arrow had just landed, the sound of the arrow hitting the tree following behind.

"Thank you!" yelled Murphy from halfway across the forest while stuck to a tree.

"I'm sorry, I'll be over in just a second!" Harry yelled back.

Ruby then darted right out of the bushes, calling for her brother as loud as she could in hopes she'd get to him first.

" _Oh, what if somebody gets to him first?"_ she thought in distress.

" _Even if he is taken, I'm sure there's others. Let's see, there's Murphy. He did say he was good in a fight, but he's either bragging or is just very bad at teamwork. Then there's Lightning Bliss, we may have only met for a few seconds, but I can get to know her pretty soon. That is if she's willing to...oh, who else is there? Mercury, Murphy, Bliss, and…"_

Ruby stopped in her tracks when she spotted Harry turning around in the middle of the brush, meeting him eye to eye.

" _This's going to be a pretty interesting four years…"_ nervously thought Ruby to herself.

"So, I guess this means we're partners for the next four years…" said Harry relieved.

"Yeah, it's gonna be...weird, huh." replied Ruby scratching the back of her neck.

"Uh, hello! Need a little help here!" yelled Murphy from up in a tree a few meters away.

"Yeah, I just came to come get him out of this tree. Atleast he didn't crash into it and break anything before initiation ends."

"H-hey! I could've handled that on my own!" stammered Murphy trying to detach his shirt and jacket from the arrow stuck tightly in the tree.

"Oh really now?Well I guess that means I could just leave you here. I mean, we aren't partners since Ruby beat me to you. You can either wait for someone else, or maybe until the next of the scary Grimm in this forest comes and eats you first."

"Hey, hey. I'm sorry okay. Could you just get me down please."

"Well, since you asked nicely."

Harry then reached out and the arrow flew back into his hand. Murphy soon followed by falling onto the ground with a large thump.

"I think you'd better go and keep your guard up. I wasn't kidding about the Grimm. C'mon Ruby, we've got some Relics to hunt down." said Harry enthusiastically.

Murphy reached at his belt buckle at unclipped the two pie shaped blades that could spread out into a half circle rather than the original eighth. They weren't his desired weapon at the time because it wasn't big and impressive. But it had been handed down from one family member to the next. He hadn't really ever used them before, so it was about time he knew how. Mercury was still searching through bushes about twenty meters from where Murphy was standing, gleaming red eyes gazing through the larger shrubs and undergrowth.

"Ruuuuuuby, c'mon I know you're hiding around here somewhere."

Mercury then grabbed the middle of a bush and split it apart revealing the large wolf-like Grimm behind it.

"Eh, nope." sighed Mercury.

Mercury dived back as the wolf swung down a large claw. He drew the two pistols from their holders and fired rapidly at the surrounding monster. Another then crept up from behind trying to attempt a sneak attack. This failed when Mercury slammed one of his guns across the monster's face.

"Hey, hey, no need to get violent. I'm just looking for a girl in a purple shirt, reddish jacket. Have you seen her?" comically asked Mercury being his normal jokingly self.

Another large claw dove towards him, doing a double backflip to escape its grasp.

"You know you could've just said na…"

Mercury paused mid sentence as a few small strands of his hair drifted onto the ground.

"You…" angrily breathed Mercury closing his eyes.

The two beasts looked at each other in both confusion and worry.

"MONSTERS!" screamed Mercury yelling out a long battle cry as he dove at one of the wolves.

His movements started to become a large blur of neon colored light and swinging motions. He kept punching and slicing until he shot the beast straight through two trees, knocking it out cold. He angrily faced the second beast, seething with rage.

"YOU WANT SOME MORE? WELL COME AT ME, BRING IT ON!"

He was about to make another move when the beast fell over onto it's face, one of Murphy's triangular blades stuck in its back. Murphy climbed up and pulled it out in amazement that he was able to pull off such a stunt.

"I could've taken that one out no prob." chuckled Mercury.

"Is it always this wild and dangerous with you?" asked Murphy.

"Hehe, welcome to my world, dude." he replied, offering a hand to help him down.

Toon was walking down what seemed like both a clearer path and a trap at the same time, but it seemed like a good idea to him. He had gotten it easy so far, it seemed like the walk would take forever if he was still alone. As if someone had answered his prayers, a large tree with Lighting Bliss and a bear-like Grimm tumbled down right in front of the path he was walking on. Toon help out by kicking the bear off of her and stabbing it with his blade for good measure.

He looked back at Bliss as the thing that had just attacked him began to disintegrate into the air.

"Crazy, huh." asked Toon as politely as he could.

"Yeah, why didn't you use your aura? It'd be much easier." replied Bliss while dusting herself off.

"Huh? Oh, right, my aura. I'm just...tough like that." he shrugged.

"You do know what aura is right?" asked Bliss.

"Of course I do!I just… don't use it often."

"Why not? It's helpful in all kinds of defense."

"You see, my aura is directly linked to my semblance. I activate my aura, I kinda activate my semblance. It's really strong and takes lots of energy out of me in the process. Using it on tiny scrapes and scratches like these is like using a missile to kill a fly."

"That strong, huh? What is your semblance anyway?"

"It's hard to explain but, I like to call it Rising Darkness. I can summon large amounts of dark red energy and focus it on my enemies, but it's equivalent to a nuclear bomb."

"Wow…" gasped Bliss.

Farther and deeper in the forest, Golden was fighting against a large snake creature that was both black and white. It roared and hissed at him, diving in for a defeat when he was the most vulnerable. His hands then started to glow a deep orange, signaling the activation of his aura. He held back the two gigantically sharp fangs that threatened to pierce him. He broke the two fangs in half and took out the monster while he had this chance.

In the midst of all the rubble, Golden wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Blllllll Oorah! Bllllll Oorah!" called KeyFrame while hanging upside down off of a tree branch.

"I'm pretty sure that's not what turtles sound like Key." said Golden jokingly.

Key then reached down and poked him in the nose saying boop as cheerfully as she could.

"It seems like the final partners have been assigned." said Ozpin while looking down at his scroll's monitor.

"Golden Fox and KeyFrame? I can't imagine the torture he's going through right now." sighed Glynda at all of Key's packed up energy.

"And what exactly did you use as relics this year, Ozpin?"

Ozpin looked back down at his scroll changing the view to Harry and Ruby walking through thick branches and bushes. The two stared at the ratherly small stone floored circle surrounded by vines, broken stones, and pillars that looked like they were carrying the remains of the roof.

"Is this the place?" asked Harry curiously.

"I think it is. Are the chess pieces the relics?" asked Ruby looking back at Harry confused.

"I think so, there's quite a few of them missing, so that means more people have been through here. Which one do we take?"

"Whichever one you like, you got us here."

"Okay, I'll go with...this one."

Ruby picked up a black King piece and placed it in a side pocket on her Jacket. The loud call of Mercury could be heard from on top of a nearby hill.

"Oooh, dibs on the Queen!" said Mercury rushing over to the Black Queen piece and put it in a side pocket of his jeans.

"What took you guys so long? Did you get lost very quickly, or run into Grimm?" asked Ruby.

"Kinda a bit of both, but Murphy actually held out pretty well."

Mercury gave Murphy a hard pat on the back before joining with the others. He had been doing rather well with his new blades recently, even though they felt almost foreign to him before. A loud roar cut through his thoughts as KeyFrame road on the back of a large Grimm that looked like a combination of a wolf and a bear at the same time. The monster finally dropped to the ground when Golden managed to get ahold of it with his scythe.

"Aww, it's broken." said Key tapping her foot on the ivory outer-skull on its head.

"Never...do that...again…" gasped Golden as he tried to catch his breath.

Key immediately rushed over to the podiums and began balancing a White Rook piece on her head while singing.

"I'm Queen of the castle, I'm Queen of the castle!" said Key in her sing song voice.

"Key...please slow down…!" said Golden as he trudged to meet up with the rest of the group.

"Eye eye, captain!" replied Key while saluting and catching the Rook as it fell off of her head.

"Are we all calm and good? Cause I think we all need a chill moment to take a deep breath…" sighed Mercury as he started to slouch back a little more trying to rest his aching muscles.

Another roar cut through the trees as a scorpion Grimm marched through the trees messily knocking them down. Bliss was running from it while Toon was trying not to get caught my it's sharp tail.

"Aww, come on! Just one solid minute!"

"I've got this one, time to show what I've got." said Ruby as she dashed at the monster at full speed.

"Ruby, wait! What're you doing!?" yelled Harry as he tried to catch up to her.

Ruby charged her gauntlets as Toon and Bliss dashed behind her. She took a long swing and a through her hardest punch at the beast. It only left a small dent in its thick outer-skull. Ruby was frazzled as to how this could be. Another Grimm circled above them like a vulture hunting it's prey. Ruby began to run in the opposite direction at full speed. She tried to get away, but the vulture started to through feathers the size of vending machines and stabbed into the ground.

Her dark red jacket got caught by one of these feathers, instantly tugging at it while trying not to rip the jacket itself. The scorpion was merely feet away when she saw Harry run directly at it while the markings on his staff charged an icy cold blue. Then all went silent, Ruby's ears ringing as the only thing she could hear was 'what were you thinking' being yelled at her. Harry broke the large feather and got her jacket unstuck.

"You could've gotten hurt! What's charging out of turn directly at a thing could most likely kill you accomplish!?" yelled Harry.

"I-I thought I could take it, okay! I just...don't want to be an outcast...I want to prove I'm strong."

Ruby looked over at the scorpion whose tail was stuck in a wall of ice, struggling to get it out. Harry had placed a large shield of ice to protect her.

"You don't need to prove you're strong, and there's plenty of people here who don't think you're an outcast...even if they would, I'd still be your friend." sighed Harry as he helped her up.

Ruby sighed and stretched her arms.

"Well, I was afraid to make new friends at first...but now I think it's easier than I thought."

"Now, this ice wall isn't gonna hold forever, so we should probably get going. The pieces were there and we grabbed them, all we have to do is get back to the cliff okay? I spotted a bridge just over to the side of the cliff about where we left. If we cross there, we'll complete the initiation."

"Seems like a good plan to me, grab what we came for and run for our lives. Not the best plan, but it's all we've got." said Toon picking up a White Night piece and handing it to Bliss to put in her pocket.

"Alright guys, let's roll!" gestured Ruby as she began to lead towards the bridge where Harry said it was.

Mercury looked over as Ruby stepped on a rock looking more cheerful and happy than she had in awhile.

"What're you looking at?" asked Murphy.

"Oh, nothing. Just my little sis's growing up fast." sighed Mercury following.

The bridge was a large circular pillar that stretched far down into the cavern below. It had many more levels underneath it, but it was mostly crumbling apart.

"Woah, talk about some massive building skills." joked Murphy.

"INCOMING!" yelled Key as the vulture swung down low and sliced through the middle of the bridge causing it to collapse.

"Great, now how're we gonna get across?" grumbled Toon.

"That's the least of our problems right now!" yelled Harry as he pointed at the Vulture circling overhead.

"You sure we can take on a Grimm of that size?" asked Toon looking over at Ruby worryingly.

"Well then we'll just have to give it all we've got." said Ruby locking and loading her gauntlets and getting into a battle stance.

The bridge began to crumble underneath their feet, a large chunk Ruby was standing collapsed and sent her tumbling off the edge. About twenty feet before swinging across a more stable part of the bridge, she launched high into the air before getting slammed into by the vulture diving in head first. Ruby was still clinging on as tight as she could. She began to fire her gauntlet as much as she could into the Grimm's back.

"How. Do. You. Like. That!?" yelled Ruby between every fire.

She then jumped down as the bird nailed itself into the cliffside. Ruby looked straight at it and two nearby pillars that were mostly damaged from the vulture's previous attempt.

"I've got an idea, it's a little risky, but it's all we've got at the moment so what do you say?" asked Ruby to Harry who was on a pillar nearby.

"I don't know, but I trust you. Tell us what we need to do."

After some troubled communication, Golden and Key were signaled to distract the vulture in the cliffside. It began to swat at the two over and over even though they were out of reach. When the cliffside rock finally crumbled around the now freed monster, it was blown back by a large explosion of rainbows from Lightning Bliss's hand cannon. Harry followed behind with Ruby, sending a wide spread of ice catching the creature's tail. Harry swung back around and Ruby lassoed her gauntlets to two of the still standing pillars that they had directed it in front of.

Harry formed two glyphs to hold her in place like a rock in a slingshot.

"You sure you can make this shot?" asked Ruby looking over at Harry.

"Can I?" asked Harry rhetorically.

"Well can you?" asked Ruby breaking the silence.

"Of course I can!" replied Harry slightly more annoyed.

The glyphs turned a deep black before drawing back and launching Ruby directly at the vulture's neck at top speed. Ruby then lassoed around the bird's neck and held on tight. Harry created a series of glyphs for Ruby to run on all across the cliff side, while pulling the vulture behind her.

"This is what you get for hurting my friends!" she yelled furiously as she dragged the beast all the way to the cliff's top.

She fired at maximum strength and speed so hard, the ground below her shattered into bright red crystals like glass when she reached the top. The two halves of the bird fell downward into the caverns below, Ruby looking back at her newest friends that she would soon consider family. It wasn't until she helped all of the others cross the bridge remains safely and give the chess pieces to Ozpin. Afterward he guided them back to a large industrial-like aircraft that carried them and all of the other passing first year students to Beacon. Ozpin stood in the middle of the auditorium, announcing the teams and their leaders that had successfully passed initiation.

"Ruby Corundum, Harry Azuli, Murphy Obsidian, and Mercury Corundum. Your two groups have recovered the black king and queen pieces uniting yourselves together in team Rimm, a team of strength, courage, intelligence, and bravery. For the most advanced leadership and courage in battle, I name the team leader Ruby Corundum."

The room clapped and cheered for them. It was the most praise Ruby had ever gotten in a lifetime. Sure she was worried about responsibilities and the fact she now had people to depend on, but it was a good feeling for the first time.

"Golden Fox, Key Frame, Lightning Bliss, and Toon Kritic. Your two groups retrieved the white rook and the white knight pieces. Therefore you shall be known as team Flirt. For braveness and perseverance in battle, I name the team leader Golden Fox."

The crowd roared, it became even louder when Key punched Golden so hard he almost fell off stage. The two new teams RHMM and FFLT laughed at each other, hugging and celebrating for the rest of the afternoon.

" _This's gonna be a great year…"_ thought Ruby before going back to her team.

But even as Ruby celebrated, Andrew Scorch was looking over his marked maps of the Vale city area. He grinned as he drew a circle around the very edge of the map.

"Finally, no more tricks and games. It's time to rise out of the shadows." said Andrew to the mysterious woman who was on the plane with him when he escaped from Ruby.

"It'll come in time, but once we're done, everybody...will give us what we want." grinned the mysterious woman scanning over the paper.

The circle was marked right over the location of Beacon.


End file.
